Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

GOOD MORNING

The 9 at 9 Private Seán Rooney’s body returns home, a Noteworthy investigation and Musk polls Twitter users about his future.

LAST UPDATE | 19 Dec 2022

GOOD MORNING.

Here’s all the news that you need to know as you start your day.

Seán Rooney

1. The body of Private Seán Rooney will arrive in Dublin this morning after being repatriated from Lebanon.

An Air Corps plane departed Beirut yesterday after a solemn UN ceremony at the airport to honour the peacekeeper, who was killed on Wednesday when his convoy was attacked.

Drilling for data

2. As part of its Lights Out investigation, Noteworthy analysed EU data to reveal direct onsite carbon emissions from data centres have ballooned to be over 35 times higher within the space of a decade.

Niall Sargent also reports that concerns over the energy needs of data centres were flagged by EirGrid and the ESB to the energy regulator as early as 2014, yet major rule changes to limit grid access only came into effect in November 2021.

Twitter

3. Elon Musk has vowed to abide by the results of a public online poll asking Twitter users if he should “step down” as head of the social media platform.

Musk tweeted the 12-hour poll at 11.20pm last night.

“Should I step down as head of Twitter? I will abide by the results of this poll,” Musk tweeted, along with the options “Yes” or “No”.

Toronto

4. Five people have been killed and another wounded in a shooting in the suburbs of the Canadian city of Toronto, police have said.

The suspect also died after an exchange of fire with law enforcement, local police chief Jim MacSween told reporters, saying the shooting took place in an apartment building.

Firearm seizure

5. A man is been charged in connection with the seizure of a semi-automatic pistol in Dublin 10.

Following a search of a residence in the area on Saturday, gardaí found a loaded semi-automatic pistol and a small amount of cocaine.

Ukraine

6. The Ukrainian capital Kyiv has been targeted in an early-morning drone strike.

The attack comes three days after what officials described as one of Russia’s biggest assaults on Kyiv since the beginning of the war.

Dogs Trust

7.Dogs Trust has urged the public to carefully consider the commitment involved in getting a dog, after it took in an abandoned Lurcher with severe injuries.

The charity does not recommend getting a dog at Christmas, as it is a particularly difficult time to bring a new dog into a home.

Weather

8.Two Status Yellow weather warnings for wind and rain are in place for various parts of the country.

A Status Yellow rain warning for Cork, Kerry, Waterford Galway and Mayo is in place until 12:30pm today.

A Status Yellow wind warning will be in place for Carlow, Kilkenny, Wexford and Waterford until midday.

Win for Argentina

9. Argentina has won the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. You can read a report by Gavin Cooney who was at the scene yesterday here